Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Another Currency in the Procees of Being Destroyed By Hyeprinflation

Prof. Steve H. Hanke, Co-Director of The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise, in a new study provides some data on the collapse of the South Sudan pound.

One chart from the study shows the decline in the pound on black markets versus the U.S. dollar:

The inflation rate trended between 200% and 400% on an annualized basis over the year 2016. The last data point, December 2016, showed price inflation at 390%

Note: Technically, Hanke does not classify South Sudan as experiencing hyperinflation:

[T]he monthly rate only exceeded 50 percent on two days: February 15, 2016 and February 16, 2016. South Sudan failed to ever sustain a monthly inflation rate above 50 percent for 30 consecutive days over the study period. In consequence, South Sudan did not, contrary to many reports in the financial press, experience hyperinflation.

Note 2: There is no reliable information on how much new money has been added to the money supply by the South Sudan central bank in recent years, however, when you see price inflation like this, there is no doubt the bank is pumping out money as if it were popcorn at a 24-hour circus.